International Journal of Emerging Engineering Research and Technology
Volume 8, Issue 2, 2020, PP 1-8
ISSN 2349-4395 (Print) & ISSN 2349-4409 (Online)
Development of a Tractor Drawn Turmeric Planter
Agidi Gbabo1, C. P. Muogbo1, I. M. Gana2*
1
Agricultural and Bioresources Engineering Department, Federal University of Technology,
Minna, Niger State, Nigeria
2
Agricultural and Bioenvironmental Engineering Department, Federal University of
Technology, Minna, Niger State, Nigeria
*Corresponding Author: I. M. Gana, Agricultural and Bioenvironmental Engineering Department,
Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State, Nigeria
ABSTRACT
Planting of turmeric has been a challenge to the farmers in Nigeria due to the absence of planting machine.
The farmers are left to the traditional method of planting with hoes and cutlasses. This method is time
consuming, labour intensive, associated with human drudgery and a high demand for human energy. As a
result, a mechanical planter was designed and fabricated. The main objective of the study is to develop and
evaluate the performance of a tractor- drawn turmeric planter. The planter was designed, fabricated and
tested in the Agricultural and Bioresources Department of The Federal University of Technology, Minna. It
consists of a ground drive wheel, hopper, metering system furrow opener, residue cutting edge, furrow
closing device press wheel and power transmission mechanism. The performance tests of the fabricated
machine were carried out using three levels of turmeric rhizome lengths (30 mm, 45 mm and 60 mm) at
three levels of operational speeds (8km/h 10km/h and 12km/h). The results revealed that there was no
steady pattern in the increase or decrease of miss index with increase in turmeric rhizome length and
machine operational speed. The highest percentage turmeric rhizome miss index of 35% was recorded for
turmeric rhizome length of 30cm at machine operational speed of 10km/h whereas the lowest percentage
turmeric rhizome miss index of 15% was obtained for turmeric rhizome length of 60cm at the machine
operational speed of 12km/h. The machine operational speed and size of the turmeric rhizomes affect the
field capacity of the machine. The highest capacity of 0.96ha/h was recorded at the highest operational
speed of 12km/h. The lowest field capacity of 0.63ha/h was recorded at the lowest machine speed of 8km/h.
The developed machine could reduce drudgery involved in manual turmeric planting and save about
substantial amount of labour and operating time.
Keywords: Development, testing, tractor-drawn turmeric, planter
INTRODUCTION mg cholesterol, 0.2 g calcium, 0.26 g phosphorous,
10 mg sodium, 2500 mg potassium, 47.5 mg
Turmeric (Curcuma longa linn) is a stem tuber
iron, 0.9 mg thiamine, 0.19 mg riboflavin, 4.8
crop. It belongs to the same family as ginger
mg niacin, 50 mg ascorbic acid, 69.9 g total
(Zingiberaceae) and grows in the same hot and
carbohydrates, 21 g dietary fiber, 3 g sugars, and
humid tropical climate. The rhizome is deep
8 g protein (Balakrishnan, 2007;Sahdeo and
bright yellow in colour. Turmeric was derived
Bharat, 2011). Planting of turmeric has been a
from Latin word terra merita (merited earth). In challenge to the farmers in Nigeria due to the
Nigeria, turmeric is cultivated mostly on subsistent absence of planting machine.
bases in about 19 states (Nwaekpeet al., 2015).
The underground rhizome impacts a distinctive The farmers are left to the traditional method of
flovour to food but it is also used to provide planting with hoes and cutlasses. This method is
food with a deep indelible orange colour (FAO, time consuming, labour intensive, associated
2004). Modern medicine has begun to recognize with human drudgery and a high demand for
its importance, as indicated by the over 3000 human energy. It was noted that “time is the
essence of farming” and whatever help shorten
publications dealing with turmeric that came out
the time required for planting will help
within the last 25 years (Sahdeo and Bharat, 2011).
overcome the effect of adverse weather (Ajitet
Nutritional analysis showed that 100 g of turmeric al., 2006). To achieve food security through
contains 390 kcal, 10 g total fat, 3 g saturated fat, 0 large scale production (Mechanization) of crops
International Journal of Emerging Engineering Research and Technology V8 ● I2 ● 2020 1
Development of a Tractor Drawn Turmeric Planter
with high potentials/prospects such as turmeric, SR = seeding rate of turmeric rhizome (kg/h)
there is much need to provide a planting aid to
n = number of refilling per hectare
Nigerian farmers to alleviate their suffering. The
recent climatic change which results in delayed BD = bulk density kg/m3
early rain and short duration of annual rainfall Design of Rhizome Seed Metering Device
affects the maturity of the turmeric rhizomes
due to the long-time taken in manual planting of Proper design of the metering device by
turmeric. In most cases, turmeric do not attain 7 calculating the number of holes in the metering
– 9 months maturity before the end of the rainy devise is an essential element for satisfactory
season due to the delay as a result of time performance of the planter. It was designed to
(duration) spent in the use of manual planting distribute seeds uniformly at the desired
method. With the above stated reasons, the application rate and control seed spacing. Hence,
development of a tractor drawn turmeric planter the number of holes on the metering device was
became necessary. The developed implement is determined as reported by Khan et al. (2015), as
expected to improve the timeliness and follows:
efficiency of operation as well as reduce drudgery πDw
and cost of turmeric production. The aim of this Ng = i× x
(3)
research work therefore, is to develop a tractor-
Where: Dw= diameter of the drive wheel
drawn turmeric planter.
i = drive ratio
MATERIAL AND METHODS
x = intra raw spacing (m)
Design Analysis
Determination of the Angular Speed of the
The following design analyses were carried out
Drive Wheels (Rpm)
to determine and select the various machine parts:
The drive wheels of the planter transmit power
Determination of the Minimum Width of
to the metering mechanism of the planter
Planter
through chain drive arrangement. The angular
The minimum width of the planter required to speed of drive wheel which is the same as the
cover 8 hectares per day at operational speed of angular speed of the smaller sprocket is essential
10km/h was estimated using equation 1as follows: in the design of chain and sprockets as well as
estimating power transmission through chain drive.
CT = v × w (1)
The angular speed of the drive wheels of the planter
Where CT = theoretical capacity, with operational
was estimated using Equation 4 (Maxmillan, 2002)
time of 8 hours in a day (m2/h)
V = 𝜋 D Nw (4)
S = speed of operation (m/h)
Where V =operational speed (m/h)
w = implement working width (m)
D = diameter of drive wheel (0.6m)
Determination of Hopper Dimensions and
Capacity Nw= rotational speed of drive wheel (rpm)
The hopper was designed to feed the metering Determination of the Shear Strength of the
device in vertical direction. The shape, location Planters Drive Wheels
and dimensions of the hopper were selected to
This was determined in other to select materials
ensure free flow of the cane seed. To achieve
of appropriate thickness for the wheel thereby
this, static coefficient of friction was determined.
avoiding failure by crumbling. The following
The coefficient of friction was found to be 0.47.
equation as reported by Thomas and Brown
The dimension of hopper was chosen to avoid
(2005) was used to analyse the shear strength of
frequent loading of the hopper. It has a shape of
the drive wheel.
trapezoidal shape as shown in (Figure 3.9) below.
T
Based on the above stated parameters the 𝜏= 2A tw
(5)
volume of hopper was estimated using Equation 2
given by Olaoye and Bolufawi (2001) as follows: Where: 𝜏 = shear strength of the wheel
S
R
T = the torque provided by the wheel (N/m)
V=n ×BD (2)
A = area of the wheel based on the median
Where V = volume of the hopper (m3) diameter of the wheel (m2)
2 International Journal of Emerging Engineering Research and Technology V8 ● I2 ● 2020
Development of a Tractor Drawn Turmeric Planter
tw = thickness of the wheel (m) Where: DI = implement draft, N
r = the outer radius of the wheel (m) Fi = dimensionless texture adjustment factor
Determination of the Torque of the Planter’s i = 1 for fine, 2 for medium and 3 for coarse
Wheel texture soils
The torque of the planter’s wheel is essential in A, B and C = implement specific constants
estimating the power that is transmitted to the
metering shaft and in determining the minimum v = travel speed, km/h
size of diameter required for both the wheel w = implement working width, (m)
shaft and metering device shaft. It was obtained
using Equation 6 as reported by Khan et al., d = tillage depth, cm (1.0 for minor tillage tools
(2015) and seeders)
Tw = Kw× Ww× Rw (6) R = range of power requirement due to differences
in machine design, machine adjustment and crop
Where: Tw = torque of the wheel conditions.
Kw = rolling resistance coefficient of wheel (0.3 But w = inter row spacing number of rows
for metallic wheel)
Wp = Weight on the drive wheel From ASAE standards, following are the values:
(for row crop planter which are drawn type but
Rw = Radius of the wheel seeding only)
Determination of the Diametre of Wheel F1 = F2 = F3 = 1.0, A = 900, B = C = 0.0, v = 10.0
Shaft and Metering Device Shaft km/h, w = 1.0 ×2 =2.0m, d = 1.0 for seeders and R
The size of the wheel and metering device shafts = 25%
to transmit power from drive wheel to the Determination of Power Requirement of the
metering device is dependent on the twisting Implement
moment (torque) and the maximum bending
moment on the shafts as well as the allowable Power transmitted through the drive wheel is
stress of the material of make of the shaft. The essential in the designing of the chain drive
minimum shaft diameter is obtained from the arrangement. This to ensure that the torque
following relationship reported by khurmi and generated will be able to move the metering
Gupta (2007) mechanism. This was obtained using equation 9
16
as reported by Khurmi and Gupta (2007).
d3 = S √(K b Mb )2 + (K t Mt )2 (7) 2πNw Tw
aπ
pw = 60
(9)
Where: d = diameter of shaft (m)
Where: Pw = power transmitted through the
S = allowable shear stress (40x106 Nm2 for shaft wheel (W)
with key way)
Nw= speed of the wheel (rpm)
Kb = combined shock and fatigue factor applied
to bending moment Tw= torque of the wheel (Nm)
Kt = combined shock and fatigue factor applied Description of the Machine
to twisting moment Machine Frame
Mb = maximum bending moment This is the skeletal structure of the planter on
M
t = twisting moment (196.12Nm) which all other components are mounted. It was
constructed from 75 mm x 75 mm x 6 mm carbon
Determination of the Implement Draft
steel angle iron. Provisions are made for the 3-
Draft is an important factor in determining point hitching linkages for tractor connection to
implement power requirement. According to the machine. During road transportation and on
ASAE (1999), average draft requirements can displacement from one field to another, the whole
be estimated using Equation 8: frame is fully mounted on the tractor but during
DI = Fi(A+Bv+Cv2) wd±R (8) planting operation the planters frame is
International Journal of Emerging Engineering Research and Technology V8 ● I2 ● 2020 3
Development of a Tractor Drawn Turmeric Planter
supported by drive wheel. The structure of The metering disc on rotation drops the rhizome
frame is as shown in the Figure1 into the delivering system. The metering device
is as shown figure 3
Figure1. Machine frame
Hopper
Figure3. Metering Mechanism
The cane seed hopper was made from 1.5 mm
thick mild steel sheet. It has a trapezoidal shape Delivery System
(340mm x 340mm) top and (70mm x 40mm) The delivering system is as shown in figure 4,
lower end. A rubber seal was fixed round the its upper part was made of flat stainless plate
lower end to avoid bruising the rhizomes. It also curved in a frustum shape. The upper end of the
reduced friction between the rotating metering plate was fastened to the frame and passed
device and the edge of the hopper and holds the through under the metering system. The lower
turmeric rhizomes temporarily for planting as end of the flat plate was fastened into a 3 inches
the machine is drawn along on the field. The PVC pipe. The 400mm length PVC terminated
hopper is as shown in figure 2. behind the furrow opener and was suspended by
a circular metallic ring formed with 8mm rod.
The delivering channel is as shown in figure 4.
Figure4. Delivery funnel
Figure2. Hopper
Furrow Opener
Metering Device
the furrow opener of this planter is adjustable
This was constructed in a circular disc. The point type as shown in figure 5. The adjustment
circular disc has six grooves of 70mm x 60mm x was provided to ensure control of 5 – 10cm
50mm. The disc is slightly touching the hopper planting depth as recommended in the
standing vertically above the metering device. agronomic practice of turmeric production. It
This is to ensure that the rhizomes falls into the was made from 8mm thick mild steel flat bar
grooves of the metering system. The power and has horizontal V shape with a sharp edge
generated by the ground wheel rotates the attached to serve as residue cutting device. The
metering system through a chain transmission. V shape of the furrow opener prevents soil from
4 International Journal of Emerging Engineering Research and Technology V8 ● I2 ● 2020
Development of a Tractor Drawn Turmeric Planter
falling back into created furrow. It creates the center curve inward. The inward curved was
furrow before the turmeric rhizome is discharged designed to allow some quantity of soil to be
from the delivery channel. It is fastened to the packed and pressed on top of the turmeric
machine frame using 17mm size standard bolts rhizome for good sprouting. It also ensures that
and nuts. the air spaces around the seed inside the soil are
covered. The press wheel is shown in figure 7
Figure7. Press wheel
Ground Drive Wheel
T Wheels of larger diameters are to reduce
rolling resistance especially in the case of
traction wheels(Bharat and Sidharth 2014; Ani
Figure5. Furrow opener et al 2016).The circumference of the drive
Furrow Closing Device wheel was formed with 12mm mild steel rod as
shown in figure 3.6. An angular mild steel bar of
The furrow closing device was designed from a 4mm was used to brace the two circular flat bar
6mm thick mild steel flat bar to form an at an intervals of 50mm round the drive wheel.
expanded horizontal U – shape as shown figure A 12mm rod was used to design the spokes.
3.4. A 6mm thick mild steel angular bar with These spokes are used to support the center
holes at the lower end for height adjustments bushing or hub. The spokes are arranged in such
was braced perpendicular to the planter frame a way that they braced the circular
downward. A similar angular bar was braced to circumference and also give it necessary radial
the U – shape closing deviceand fastened to the support. The two wheels are connected to the
perpendicular angular bar with bolts and nuts. two shafts which are suspended in two sets of
bearing. The wheels transmit power obtained by
the pull from the tractor.
Figure8. Ground wheel
Power Transmission System
Figure6. Furrow Closing device The power transmission system (figure 3.9)
performs the work of reducing the ground speed
The Press Wheel
of the tractor to a permissible level that is
The press wheel was constructed in the shape of suitable for the operation of the turmeric rhizome
a car rim. The diameter of the wheel is 200mm metering system. It is comprised of chain and
with the two-edge rolling on the ground while two sprockets of predetermined sizes. A big
International Journal of Emerging Engineering Research and Technology V8 ● I2 ● 2020 5
Development of a Tractor Drawn Turmeric Planter
sprocket (42 teeth) fitted to the shaft of the drive Miss Index
wheel and a smaller one (15 teeth) connected to
Misses or skips are created when seed grooves
the shaft that was fastened to the frame of the
fail to pick up and deliver seeds to the delivery
planter with two pillow bearings. From that
point, power was taken to the metering device funnels. Misses are counted along a randomly
shaft with the aid of chain and two sprockets (34 selected 15m length of each planted row with
teeth). Chain and sprockets are used to transmit the covering devices removed. The missing
power in the drive so as to prevent power loss percentage is presented by an index called the
miss index (MI) which is the percentage of
during transmission.
spacing greater than 1.5times the theoretical
spacing (katchman and smith, 1995).
n
MI = Ns 100 (11)
Where: ns = number of skips
N = Total number of spacing
Field capacity of Planter: The field capacity of
the planter is the total area of land that was
covered. It is expressed as the area of field
covered in given time and was obtained as
follows:
Af
CM =. (12)
T
Figure9. Power Transmission System Where CM = machine capacity (ha/h)
TESTING OF MACHINE Af= area of field covered (m2)
A 90m x 90m field located at the Federal T = time taken (h)
University of Technology, Minna farm site was RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
ploughed and harrowed. The field was then sub
divided into plots of 30m x 30m. Turmeric Miss Index
rhizomes were obtained from National Root Table 1 shows the performance of the machine
Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) Nyanya Sub in terms of miss index. The result show that the
Station, Abuja. The rhizomes were cleaned and miss percentage decreases with an increase in
sorted into 30mm, 45mm and 60mm lengths to turmeric rhizome length. This observation does
determine the length which will give optimum not agree with the findings of Singh and
performance. The planter was loaded with turmeric Gautam, (2015). The results of the planter show
rhizome and then planted on the 30 m x 30m sub that there was no steady pattern in the increase
plots at three different operational speeds of 8km/h, or decrease of miss index with increase in
10km/h and 12km/h for each group. turmeric rhizome length and machine operational
A three-variable, three level factorial design (N speed. The highest percentage turmeric rhizome
= 33) provides the frame work for the experiment. miss index of 35% was recorded for turmeric
The experimental design was a split-plot design rhizome length of 30cm at machine operational
according to the principle of factorial experiment. speed of 10km/h whereas the lowest percentage
The three levels of speeds were assigned to the sub turmeric rhizome miss index of 15% was obtained
plot and the three levels of turmeric rhizome for turmeric rhizome length of 60cm at the machine
length were confounded to the split-plot. The data operational speed of 12km/h. The reason for this
were subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) trend is because shorter rhizomes fall out easily
using expert design software and the following as more than one turmeric rhizome tends to fall
parameters were computed: from the hopper to the metering system.
Table1. Effect of machine operational speed on miss index for different lengths of turmeric rhizome
Machine speed Percentage of miss index for different turmeric rhizome lengths (%)
Levels
(km/h) 30 45 60
8 30 30 25
1 10 35 20 15
12 30 25 20
2 8 30 35 15
6 International Journal of Emerging Engineering Research and Technology V8 ● I2 ● 2020
Development of a Tractor Drawn Turmeric Planter
10 35 15 20
12 30 25 20
8 35 25 20
3 10 25 20 20
12 35 30 20
The result of the analysis variance (ANOVA) speed resulted in an increase in field capacity of
indicates that the machine operating speed has the machine for all turmeric rhizome lengths
significant effect on the miss index of the turmeric which agrees with Khan and Moses, (2017). It
rhizome prototype planter (at P < 0.05) while the was observed that the field capacity of 0.63-
grading of the turmeric rhizomes into different 0.65ha/h was obtained for all turmeric rhizome
length has no significant effect on the miss
lengths at the lowest operational speed of
index (at P > 0.05).
8km/h, while the highest field capacity of 0.95-
Field Capacity 0.96ha/h was recorded for the various lengths of
Results of test carried out to evaluate the planter’s the turmeric rhizome at the highest machine
field capacity with respect different operational speed of 12km/h. Furthermore, the best planting
speeds are shown in table 2. The field capacities of field capacity of the turmeric rhizome planter
planters depend on the operational speed. The was obtained when the rhizome length of 45 cm
results show that increase in machine operational was planted at the operational speed of 12km/h.
Table2. Effect of machine speed on field capacity for different lengths of turmeric rhizome
Field capacity at different length of turmeric rhizome (ha/h)
Levels Machine speed (km/h)
30 45 60
8 0.64 0.65 0.63
1 10 0.80 0.83 0.84
12 0.96 0.96 0.95
8 0.65 0.63 0.66
2 10 0.84 0.82 0.84
12 0.95 0.96 0.94
8 0.66 0.63 0.64
3 10 0.82 0.83 0.84
12 0.94 0.95 0.96
CONCLUSION field capacity of 0.63 ha/h was recorded at the
lowest machine speed of 8km/h.
The machine was successfully constructed and
evaluated. The performance evaluation of the REFERENCES
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Citation: Agidi Gbabo, C. P. Muogbo, I. M. Gana., “Development of a Tractor Drawn Turmeric Planter”,
International Journal of Emerging Engineering Research and Technology, 8(2), 2020, pp. 1-8
Copyright: © 2020 I.M Gana. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original author and source are credited.
8 International Journal of Emerging Engineering Research and Technology V8 ● I2 ● 2020
